


It's Snow Surprise

by Sylthfarn



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Contains slight spoilers for Kratos and Anna, F/M, Fluff, Tales of Secret Santa 2016, and the game, like dude if you haven't finished the game probs don't read this idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 18:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8855413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylthfarn/pseuds/Sylthfarn
Summary: Anna is excited over the amount of snow in Luin this time of year. Kratos doesn't exactly care because it's just snow. And of course, Anna manages to find some sort of trouble even in the middle of a peaceful snowy town.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Tales of Secret Santa 2016 for tumblr user jess-jessitiz~ 
> 
> Anna's kind of aware of just who/what the heck Kratos is at this point, bc they've fought people before and he's used his artes. It's not like she's going to go run and find a Desian to tell, so he felt it was alright trusting her with it.

Kratos didn’t exactly miss the snow. It reminded him a lot of Flanoir. He hadn’t been to Flanoir in years… And he still couldn’t be sure if he missed it or not. He was relatively immune to the cold. Even if he wasn’t an angel, he had fire artes he could cast if need be. She, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She certainly couldn’t cast artes, she wasn’t immune to the cold…and she certainly was enjoying the snow a lot more than he was.

“Kratos!” she called, waving to him from about ten feet ahead of him. “Check it out! I’ve never seen Luin this snowy!”

With a sigh, Kratos hurried his pace to catch up with her. Anna Irving. A woman who was constantly surprising him, despite the fact they’d been travelling together for well over two years. She had the energy and curiosity of a child. Kratos thought he’d get used to it, or perhaps they’d stop travelling together. Neither had happened. If anything, they’d grown much closer, perhaps even at the beginnings of romance. So here he was on the outskirts of Luin, following after Anna who had been overly excited by the recent snowfall.

“Well, it generally snows this time of year,” said Kratos with a sigh as he caught up with her.

“You’re no fun,” she said, crossing her arms with a frown. “You act bored of _snow_. How can you be bored of snow?”

“When you’ve lived as long as I have,” began Kratos, but Anna cut him off.

“Yes, yes, you’re super old. I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I’m freezing. I’m going to the inn to see if they have hot chocolate and a room. You’re welcome to come if your old bones can make it.”

She skipped off ahead of him again, leaving him to follow her, a small smile on his face.

*             *             *

Kratos was thankful for several things. First, that the inn was close to the entrance of town. Second, that they had hot chocolate as Anna had hoped. And third, that they had a room available for the two of them. It only had one bed, but Anna insisted she was fine with sharing. Kratos also attempted to point out he didn’t need to sleep as much as she did, and he was fine sleeping on the floor if need be, but she talked over him. Kratos had mentioned stocking up on supplies while they were in town, which is how he found himself walking the snowy streets with Anna as she sipped her hot chocolate.

“It’s so _cold_ ,” she said, holding her hot chocolate tighter in the hopes the container would warm her hands more.

“Yes. That’s usually what happens in winter,” said Kratos.

“Don’t patronize me old man,” said Anna teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him. Kratos chuckled. “Seriously, I’d think Celsius was at work here. I’ve _never_ seen it snow this much before. Even when I was little!”

“Celsius is too busy in Flanoir,” Kratos mumbled, more to himself than to Anna. “Not that I’d want to see her again…”

“Wait, what? You’ve met Celsius?” asked Anna, stopping to stare at him.

“Er…yes,” said Kratos. He didn’t find any point in lying to Anna anymore. She already knew more than she should have. But she also didn’t seem like the type to tell anyone. It wasn’t like she _had_ anyone to tell. The two of them were constantly moving because of Cruxis, which was likely why they were still together. Plus, she just…intrigued Kratos in a way he hadn’t felt in an extremely long time.

“Well don’t just stand there! Tell me about her!” Anna insisted. “I’ve never met a Great Spirit before! What’s she like?”

“She’s…a spirit. And cold. She controls the element of ice, and she can be found—”

“For the love of Martel, what do you think this is, a lecture?” asked Anna, rolling her eyes. “Don’t just state facts like that! Tell me about when you met her. Who were you with? What did she say? What did _you_ say? Did you talk to her at all?”

“Very well,” sighed Kratos, but he was smiling. Kratos secretly enjoyed when Anna asked questions like this. She always wanted to hear about his stories and adventures, which Kratos found relaxing in a way. “We travelled out to meet her in the caves where she resides. It snows constantly there, and mostly penguinists make their home in the area. I had been with Mithos, Martel, and Yuan, as Mithos wanted to make a contract with her…”

*             *             *

They had bought their supplies, and so the two of them were returning to the inn, their arms full of paper bags carrying gels and ingredients. Anna was chatting animatedly about all the snow related activities she’d done as a child, occasionally asking Kratos about his experiences. She was in the middle of a thorough explanation of an argument she’d gotten in with another girl named Elsa over a snowman when she suddenly stopped.

Kratos dropped the bag of groceries he was carrying, his hand flying to his sword as his eyes swept over the snowy streets of Luin. Had she seen a Desian? Had someone been tipped off about their identities? He turned to ask her urgently where the danger was, and saw she was staring in the direction of the lake. He followed her gaze, expecting to see someone, or perhaps even a monster, but there was nothing.

“Anna,” he began, moving his hand away from his sword now that he was sure there was no danger. “What…”

“The lake is frozen,” said Anna. Her voice sounded distracted and slightly in awe. “I’ve never seen it freeze over before.”

She turned to Kratos, an excited look on her face. Kratos knew that expression far too well. Anna had an idea. And it likely wasn’t a _good_ idea.

“I have an idea,” she said.

“I knew it,” he sighed. He bent down to pick up the supplies he had dropped earlier. Anna was shuffling her feet back and forth, meaning she was waiting for his go-ahead to tell him her idea. He looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, and she beamed at him.

“I’m going to go check out the ice! I want to know if it’s thick enough to skate on!” She shoved her bags of supplies into his arms and took off down the small slope to the lake. Kratos was momentarily surprised, and before he had the chance to call after her, she was already on the ice.

“Anna! Be careful!” he called, following after her.

“Relax,” said Anna cheerfully, turning to face him. “It’s holding me just fine! See?”

She slid out a bit further on the ice, and as far as Kratos could tell, it was holding her weight. He allowed himself to relax the tiniest bit. If Anna wanted to slide around on the ice, she was more than welcome to. He wondered if they could find ice skates anywhere. He remembered when Yuan had tried skating with Martel after they’d met with Celsius. He’d fallen over and Mithos had laughed at him. Martel had insisted on them joining in as well, and Kratos couldn’t really remember skating any time after—

“Anna! Get back over here the ice isn’t safe!”

He’d heard it before he saw it. The ice cracking beneath Anna’s feet. She turned to him, her eyes wide with fear, reaching out towards him. For the second time that day he dropped everything he was holding and dove forward as the ice gave out from under Anna, pulling her under the dark water.

*             *             *

“Y-Y’know how I s-said it was c-cold?” said Anna, pulling the blanket around her tighter. “I-I w-was mistaken. This i-is freezing.”

“That’s what happens when you fall into a frozen lake,” said Kratos with a sigh, rubbing his hair with a towel again. “And with you, I can’t even say I’m surprised it happened.”

“Wh-What is th-that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, other than that you’re a magnet for trouble.”

He turned to face her. Her hair was still wet, which wasn’t going to help her warm up at all. Both of them had had to take off all of their wet clothing, and had given them to the innkeeper who promised she’d get them dry by tomorrow morning. Anna was currently wrapped in five blankets, as well as wearing at least three layers of her dry clothing they’d (thankfully) left at the inn.

“It was st-still f-fun though,” said Anna with a shaky laugh. Kratos rolled his eyes at her before moving over with his towel and beginning to dry her hair with it.

“You have a very odd definition of ‘fun,’” said Kratos.

“Y-You still love m-me,” said Anna with a smile. “Now p-put those fire artes to use.”

“Normal humans can’t use magic,” said Kratos, giving her a stern look. Anna huffed at him, pulling the blankets even tighter around her as she attempted to cross her arms.

“We b-both know y-you’re not a n-normal human,” she said.

“Very well,” he said, going about starting a fire in their room’s fireplace. He could never say no to Anna for very long. While she’d told him to use fire artes, he still had some matches that he was able to start a fire with instead. It would certainly be less suspicious.

“Come cuddle with me,” Anna demanded. “I’m still c-cold.”

“Do you promise not to fall in any more frozen lakes?” he asked. She rolled her eyes, but nodded, and he sat down next to her.

“Tell me more stories about the spirits,” she said, scooching closer to him and throwing a blanket around his shoulders.

“Which ones do you want to hear? There are quite a few Great Spirits…”

“All of them. Any of them. Take your pick.”

“Very well… When we travelled to see the Spirits of Light, Luna and Aska, we ran into a few complications…”

Kratos told her stories of his meetings with the Great Spirits long into the night. She stopped being as responsive after a few, and she eventually fell asleep. He kept talking, though he wasn’t sure why. He felt the need to tell someone, and Anna had been the first real company he had kept in such a long time. He felt comfortable telling her things he never told anyone else, as they were usually there. He never told any of his other travelling companions as it would risk revealing his identity and the truth behind the Chosen’s journey. But Anna was different. She really wanted nothing from him, other than his company. And for the first time in thousands of years, he once again felt as though this was someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And maybe…just maybe…they could.


End file.
